Free Plagued: The Ironville Zombie Quarantine Retraction Experiment (Plagued States of America Book 3) by Better Hero Army

cold and uncertain, but here it was warm and secure. She didn’t close her eyes.
     

Eleven
    Two days before the crash, Penelope’s dark memories stirred for the first time since arriving at the EPS. They were always there, in the forefront of her thoughts, the knowledge of who she was and how she came to be, but it was always just that—an understanding. Only real terror and panic brought out the sharpness of her past. They were linked, so when Doctor Kennedy said “twenty-two,” that’s when panic first seized Penelope, and it kept its iron grip on her ever since.
    “You don’t wear heels, much, do you, honey?” Kennedy laughed, replacing her apparent shock with a false smile.
    Penelope’s hand clenched Tom’s even tighter. No growling , she remembered Tom insisting before they went into the EPS Grand Hotel lobby. She wanted to growl, to warn Tom of the danger.
    “There’s not much need out here,” Tom put in, squeezing Penelope’s hand firmly to break her stranglehold.
    “There’s never a need ,” Kennedy laughed, swirling a glass of amber liquid in ice. She took a sip and arched her neck, looking down her nose at Tom. “Sorry I didn’t come visit when you came through Rock Island last month.”
    “Oh, you were there?”
    Kennedy nodded, taking another sip of her drink. “Entertaining your father most of the time,” she said.
    “Well, he didn’t come visit me much , either, so you don’t have anything to apologize for. What was it you did at Rock Island, then, to know my father?”
    Kennedy smiled. “Research,” she replied. “What shit job did your father stick you with here to keep you out of the public eye?”
    “Chief Registrar and, actually, I requested it.”
    “Requested?” Kennedy asked, surprise registering over her dark features. “Why?”
    “Oh, come on, you know our public family secret. It’s dredged up every election. ‘Senator Jefferson’s daughter killed during the initial outbreak.’ Rumors that she’s still alive. Rumors about a million dollar reward.”
    “ The reward is a new one.”
    “Untrue, by the way.”
    “Too bad,” she said. “I might have taken a stab at the money.”
    “Once upon a time, I would have, too,” Tom said distantly.
    “What changed your mind?” Kennedy asked.
    “Being out here.”
    “Hear, hear,” Kennedy said, lifting her glass to take a last sip, emptying the liquid with the ice cubes against her lips. She shook the empty glass, rattling the ice. “I’m going to get another. Open bar. You want to come?”
    “Maybe later,” Tom told her.
    “Don’t say I didn’t try to save you,” Kennedy said as she backed away.
    “What?”
    “Your father,” she said, pointing over his shoulder, grinning at Tom. “Big smiles for the camera.”
    “Thomas,” the Senator blurted as he clapped Tom on the shoulder.
    “Dad,” Tom said dryly.
    “Lowell, this is my son, Thomas. Don’t broadcast that, this is off the record, got me?”
    The young reporter nodded, but didn’t say anything. He wore those strange glasses that Tom told Penelope to avoid looking at. He said it was some kind of camera and there was no way of knowing if it was on or off. Penelope turned sideways to avoid looking at the reporter.
    “And this is his,” the Senator said , waving a hand toward Penelope. He paused, his brow furrowed. “What’s her name again?”
    “Penelope,” Tom answered for her. She sank behind Tom to avoid the Senator’s glare and the glasses as the reporter edged sideways to try to get a better look at her. “She doesn’t want to be on film,” Tom added, stepping between Penelope and the reporter.
    “Lowell,” the Senator said sharply. “Why don’t you go harass the Game Warden over there for a few sound bites? I want to talk to my son in private.”
    “Of course,” the reporter said. He turned and looked across the crowd before walking away.
    “Is he gone?” the Senator asked, not looking over his shoulder toward where the